Signs of an ear infection?

[Directorthiang]

My chin, Dash, is a tripod, and as such, has a difficult time cleaning parts of himself. I've noticed a build up of dust-gunk in one of his ears, and lately, he's been acting strangely. Lack of appetite, erratic bursts of energy, almost a strange paranoia (startles and runs over every tiny move my husband and I make), and weight loss.

Has anyone ever had a chin diagnosed with an ear infection? What were the symptoms?

 

[tunes]

"Usually" by the time you notice an ear infection, the chin is very ill. One of the very first things you'll notice is a head tilt, followed closely by the chin going in circles because their equilibrium is off.

The symptoms you describe would not be typical to an ear infection, however, something is going on, especially with the weight loss. Can you tell us if anything has changed for your chin? New food? New water supply? What kind of food do you feed? What about treats? Has a new pet been added to the house? Are their loud noises going on, construction, unusually heavy traffic?

 

[Directorthiang]

Nothing has changed in the last year regarding his habitat, food, etc. I feed him Purina Pro-Rabbit chow with a steady supply of Oxbow timothy hay which I mix with the Oxbow botanical, oat hay, alfalfa, and orchard grass for variety. They drink reverse osmosis distilled water and have lots of twigs to chew. The house is always kept cool and they get playtime every other night or so for about an hour. The only treats I give are the Oxbow veggie treats, a bit of shredded wheat, or rarely a piece of dried carrot or a sunflower seed. I've had these guys for over 3 years.

I noticed Dash's weight loss the beginning of April and scheduled an appointment, figuring it was his teeth. They'd needed serious work when I adopted him three years ago. The vet looked him over, said he seemed good, active, alert, etc., sedated him and took x-rays, and then filed down one spur she found on a back molar. That was two weeks ago and he's still fluctuating weights.

 

[Directorthiang]

UPDATE: He's gaining weight. Today he was at 528 when I got home from school. Over the last two days the highest I saw was 518.

He also ate some hay last night and today when I got home. Plus, a hard treat that he'd been refusing for several weeks.

I'm going to get him out for some play time tonight and see how he's acting. I haven't noticed any head tilt or running in circles, so hopefully that means no ear infection.

Keeping my fingers crossed that it was just a reaction to having his teeth filed.

 

[Riven]

I agree with what Tunes said, you usually notice head tilt or balance loss first.

Hope he keeps eating for you, up to 20 grams of weight change can be due to different times of time and other normal fluxations so keep checking!

 

[Directorthiang]

He's still eating on his own and acting much more alert and happy, especially once I cut off a huge hair ring my husband and I found. I'm hoping that was the root of the problem... slight teeth problems and the hair ring. But I'm noticing that his breathing is a little weird, too, and when we wrapped him up last night to manage the hair ring, he sounded a little wheezy.

Don't see any other symptoms of a URI, though... no watery eyes, nasal discharge, sneezing, coughing, or anything like that. Is it typical to have a respiratory problem without those symptoms?